Breakthrough Treatment For Schizophrenia Gets PBS Listing

Australians will get subsidised access from Sunday.

Australians with Schizophrenia will have a better chance at accessing breakthrough treatment, with the anti-psychotic drug REXULTI listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from Sunday.

REXULTI, which is listed on the PBS from today, gives patients access to the drug at a discounted rate of $38, or $6.30 with a concession card, a huge reduction from the cost price of $1700.

The addition of REXULTI to the PBS scheme makes Australia the first country outside of North America to have access to the drug, which works by re-balancing dopamine and serotonin in the brain.

The listing is likely to be a significant boost for many sufferers of the debilitating mental illness, which is a major cause of suicide and costs the Australian community around $2.6 billion per year.

Schizophrenia International Research Society president, Professor Pat McGorry, said new, more effective, and safer treatments like REXULTI were "a welcome addition to this challenging illness".

"Schizophrenia typically appears in early adulthood at a time when a person's whole life is before them," McGorry told Fairfax Media.